Wyrmkin
Occasionally mistaken for dragons by those unfamiliar with their species, wyrmkin are actually large, sapient, winged lizards. Cunning and quick, wyrmkin are valued as scouts and guardians by communities that can afford to keep the voracious beings fed. Despite their fearsome appearance, wyrmkin have hollow bones and are surprisingly susceptible to injury. Said to be created in a war of affection between the Sultan of Flame and the Thunderbird, these reptilians were among the oldest original inhabitants of the Quiet Lands. Physical Description: Wyrmkin are narrow-framed with long bodies often seven feet in length and wingspans nearly doubling that. The can reach over four feet high at the upper wing joints. Scales form thickest on neck, back, and forelimbs. Scale coloration varies greatly but seems to be biased by the constellations favored by the tribe. Some suspect small deposits of crystallized essence within the scales and rare instances of color shifts in exiles who utilize other essence have been recorded. Society: Wyrmkin tribes live in semi-permanent village-keeps carved from living rock by tribes with Earth Guardians of the Pasha of Stone. These communities tend to reach near 100 members before a new chieftain will arise to lead a group off to found another village. Wyrmkin temple-caverns tend to be the largest houses outside the great Temples themselves. Water tribes are the rarest of the wyrmkin with Leviathan commanding all but a small amount of them. Relations: The zealotry of the wyrmkin to their Guardian Lords often is off-putting to other inhabitants of the Quiet Lands. Fortunately the tribes tend to live in areas of elemental extremes and few of the other species seeks to interact with them regularly. Those non-wyrmkin that do generally seek out tribes with elemental biases reflected by their own. This can lead to long term affiliations between one wyrmkin tribe and another group sharing elemental affinities. Morphbears in particular find themselves allied with tribes to form high aerie villages difficult for those who cannot fly to reach. Alignment and Religion: Wyrmkin are most often molded in the shadow of the Star Chief and Guardian that rule over them. The community nearly always singularly worships the same aspect or element with very few summoning champions other than the chieftain’s. Large moots held seasonally allow wyrmkin from other tribes to exchange the favors of their elemental magics. They consider crystallized essence to be gifts from the Guardians and take poorly to those carrying and using it without the chieftain’s permission. Adventurers: Wyrmkin often serve the manifestation of their most powerful zodiac-chieftain. This lends their tribal structure some elemental bias tied to these Guardian Lords. The wyrmkin serving these chieftains are often sent after treasures in competition with other tribes and their lords. While generally these journeys are short and violent affairs to reclaim large formations of crystalized essence sometimes pride drives a wyrmkin even further. These wyrmkin may seek out the legendary Lattice and its shadow roads or even dare the Mists of the Cloud Stairway to find a greater treasure to impress their Guardian Lord. Wyrmkin Species Traits * +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Constitution: Wyrmkin are quick of mind and reflex but aerial adaptation has left them more fragile than many other creatures. * Medium: Wyrmkin are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. * Normal Speed: Wyrmkin have a base speed of 30 feet. * Quadrupedal: Wyrmkin are quadrupedal, giving them a +4 bonus to CMD to resist overrun or trip combat maneuvers. Wyrmkin do not have hands or opposable thumbs; they cannot wear magical gloves, wield manufactured weapons, or cast spells with somatic components. Wyrmkin can wear up to two magic items occupying their feet, such as two sets of magic boots. Wyrmkin cannot shape veils in the Hands slot but gain an extra Feet slot that they can shape veils in. Unlocking their Feet chakra bind allows them to bind one veil in the Feet slot; wyrmkin who would unlock their Hands chakra bind through a class ability or feat instead gain the ability to bind one of their Feet slots (so a wyrmkin with just one of either the Hands or Feet chakra binds could have two Feet veils shaped but only one bound, and a wyrmkin with both the Hands and Feet chakra binds can bind two veils to the Feet slot). * Darkvision: Wyrmkin have darkvision out to 60 feet. * Bonus Essence: Wyrmkin have an abundance of life energy and start play with 1 bonus essence point in their pool. * Natural Armor: Wyrmkin have a +2 natural armor bonus. * Natural Weapons: Wyrmkin have a bite primary natural attack that deals 1d8 points of damage (B/P/S) with a 19-20 critical threat range. Wyrmkin of at least 6th level have developed enough that they can now wield their foreclaws in combat, gaining a pair of claw primary natural attacks dealing 1d6 points of damage (B/S) with a 19-20 critical threat range. * Nature-Born: Wyrmkin are magical beasts. * Wings (Ex): The wyrmkin’s wings allow them to glide. A wyrmkin can make a DC 15 Fly check to fall safely from any height without taking falling damage, as if using feather fall. When falling safely, it may make an additional DC 15 Fly check to glide, moving 5 feet laterally for every 10 feet it falls. Wyrmkin can invest essence into this ability to improve its effects. ** Essence: A wyrmkin who invests at least 1 point of essence into their wings gains a fly speed of 20 feet with poor maneuverability. For each additional point of essence invested, the wyrmkin’s fly speed increases by 10 feet. * Languages: Wyrmkin begin play speaking Common and Draconic. Wyrmkin with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Ignan, Orc, and Terran. Wyrmkin Favored Class Options The following favored class options are available to all characters of this species who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward. * Bloodrager: Deal +1/2 point of electrical or fire (this choice is set when selecting this bonus) damage with natural attacks. * Brawler: Deal +1/2 point of slashing damage with charging attacks. * Daevic: Add +1/4 to the wymkin’s natural armor bonus. * Druid: Add +1/3 to the wyrmkin’s druid level when determining duration of the wild shape class feature. * Eclipse: Choose a veilweaving class that gains the ability to bind to the Feet slot. Add 1/3 of a Feet veil from that classes veil list to your eclipse veil list. * Fighter: Add +1 feet to the wyrmkin’s speed when resisting a bull rush, overrun, or charge attack. Only count this benefit in totals of 5 feet. * Guru: Deal +1/2 point of fire damage with constellation equipment, weapons, and veils dealing electricity damage. Or add +1/2 point of electricity damage to those dealing fire. * Necros: Add +1/2 point of fire damage to the natural attacks of undead created by the wyrmkin. * Psychic: Increase the total number of points in the psychic’s phrenic pool by 1/3 point. * Radiant: Select a vivification that grants an enhancement bonus. Treat the wyrmkin’s enhancement bonus for that vivification as +1/4 higher as long as at least 1 essence is invested in it. * Ranger: Add +1/2 to damage against fey creatures. * Rogue: The wyrmkin deals +1/2 points of slashing damage with sneak attacks with its natural attacks to targets it is flanking. * Shaman: Add +1/6 a hex to the wyrmkin’s hexes known. * Slayer: The wyrmkin deals +1/2 points of electricity or fire damage with its natural attacks to its studied targets. * Successor: The wyrmkin gains +1/6 an extra shoulder, wrist, or waist slot (worn as a tail ring) slot usable only for legacies. Each slot may only be selected once. * Zodiac: Increase the wyrmkin’s effective zodiac level by +1/3 when determining the abilities and effects of the Sultan of Flame or Thunderbird constellation. This choice must be made each time the benefit is selected and cannot be altered without retraining. Category:Source: Akashic Realms Volume 2: The Quiet Lands